ASR Weekend

Every year San Diego is flooded by hordes of retailers from around the world. They blindly attend the ASR Tradeshow under the pretense of viewing the latest lines from hundreds of “trend setting” companies. The Ritz and glamour that surrounds ASR is truly a spectacle. No were else but the beaches of Southern California do you see so many scantly clad women walking around, handing out flyers and getting their photos shot with one of the horny, away from the wife for the weekend, forty-something surf/skateboard shop owners.

Other then women, ASR is probably best known for the excessive after parties hosted by corporations with endless amounts of cash flow complete with free booze, free women and free drugs. ASR has gone on a downward spiral since the days that “rollerblading’ affiliated companies had booths there. And then about three years ago most “core” skateboard, surf and lifestyle companies abandoned ASR all together for the much cooler and much fairer Agenda Tradeshow which is held in San Diego at the same time each year. Now when you walk through ASR you have over a hundred companies owned by three corporations battling to see who can spend the most money on their booths. Back in the day, everyone was at ASR, you could find a skate session anywhere in the city and there were at least 2-3 video premieres each year. Those days are long gone, but we did have a couple of visitors at our house this year Chiaki Ito from Japan and Brandon Campbell, straight from Hollywood.

Brian Shima and Chiaki Ito

Brandon Campbell

Jeff Stockwell